2 AM
by suchanoldnameandtime
Summary: Naruto the dirt poor writer who cant write a love story is the only person awake at 2 AM to answer Sakura's phone call for help. She shouldn't have married Sasuke, he comes with too much baggage. Naruto's urge to help Sasuke turns to love and a book plot.


**Another songfic from yours truly.**

**This one-shot is loosely based on the song "Breathe (2 AM)" by Anna Nalick. And by "loosely based" I mean I wrote some scenes to fit in with lyrics in the song, and other scenes were made without any lyric input whatsoever. The fic takes my twisted, manipulated interpretation of the song and runs with it, whether it's right or wrong.**

**Warnings: This fic includes use of: Responsible!Naruto, HoldsConvosWithBabies!Naruto, Alcoholic!Sasuke, Pregnant!Sakura, and hints of former SasuSaku.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Anna Nalick's song. I could claim that I own baby Noa because I made her up, but it sounds strange to claim that I own a little baby person.**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

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><p>Naruto tapped the stubby, chewed-up pencil against the piece of paper in front of him impatiently. Why was it so hard for him to think of anything? His livelihood depended on his ability to write something good. The rent wasn't going to pay itself. He ran his hand absentmindedly through his spiky blond hair and sighed.<p>

He turned away from his desk and walked over to his kitchen, his bare feet standing solidly on the cold, cheap linoleum floor. He stared at the contents of his refrigerator and made a mental note to go the grocers. There was nothing but a half empty milk bottle, a case of beer, and some lettuce past its expiration date. Naruto groaned and lifted himself up to his substandard yellow laminate countertop under the wooden cabinets. He sat next to his cracked sink and stared out the window across from him. Food; another thing he didn't have money for right now.

Naruto knew early on in his career that being a writer wasn't going to bring in the big bucks, but becoming Jiraiya's writing student seemed like the best idea at the time. He'd promised the old pervert that he'd take over writing for him if anything had ever happened to him. Naruto never expected that "anything" to come so quickly, but a brain aneurysm could happen to anyone, and there had been no warning signs.

It was a quick funeral. Since Jiraiya had always preferred being a travelling writer, he never stayed in one place long enough to make friends with anyone. A few old acquaintances from his old village had come to say their goodbyes. Tsunade, Kakashi, Sakura and the three village elders had shown up briefly at the cemetery to watch Jiraiya be buried and to express their condolences to Naruto for his loss. He spent the next few hours in the old temple basement alone, watching the slideshow reel of Jiraiya's old family pictures displaying his life. Naruto had sat there and drained out the bottles of wine that had been bought for after the funeral. After sitting there for a couple hours, he got up and decided that he'd had enough for one night. So long and farewell, Ero Sennin.

After Jiraiya's untimely death, Naruto read all of his old books so that he'd be better able to continue on the series as he'd promised. Naruto was disgusted to find that the Icha Icha series was nothing more than badly written smut. Naruto couldn't bring himself to finish Jiraiya's "Love Story of a Lifetime" that same way. He said it was supposed to be a love story, right? The way it was now, it was all sex and no love. Icha Icha was in the process of getting a makeover from its new writer- or it would be if Naruto could think of anything to write.

Naruto walked back over to his desk and rested his head on his arms. The one eye not blocked by his arm glanced at his old wall clock and then closed. It was two in the morning. What kind of person was awake at two in the morning? Ever since Naruto became a writer, he found himself staying awake for much longer stretches of time than ever before. Naruto nuzzled his head deeper into the crooks of his arms and dozed off for a few minutes.

The landline telephone hooked into the wall jack in Naruto's living room woke him up abruptly. Naruto yawned and decided that it would be better to let the answering machine get it instead. It probably wasn't anything important, anyway. A telemarketer, maybe, or someone with the wrong number. Naruto took a deep breath and tried to fall back asleep. The phone wouldn't stop ringing. Minute after minute passed by with the phone never ceasing to stop the infernal ringing. Naruto groaned and got up to go answer it. He stumbled around his apartment, trying to find his way to his living room in the dark. His torso bumped against his armchair. He reached onto the little end table next to his chair and picked up the phone. This had better be the most important, serious fucking thing on the planet, or else he was going to choke whoever woke him up from his well deserved nap…

"H'lo?" he mumbled into the mouthpiece.

"Hey Naruto?" Sakura's voice replied in a hoarse whisper. "It's me, Sakura."

"Naruto," she whispered. "I need your help."

Naruto scrunched his face in confusion. What on Earth would she need help with at two in the morning? The last time he saw her, she was very happy.

"Help with what?"

"Naruto, I made a mistake," she sobbed. "I never should have married him. I don't even really love him anymore. He just makes it impossible, and…" she trailed off.

"Did something happen?"

Naruto heard only a sniff in reply.

"Look, everything is going to be okay, Sakura," Naruto said as calmly as he could.

"I'm using a payphone just outside of your apartment," she said. "I can't go back home. Not with _him_ still there. Can I spend the night with you?"

Naruto placed the phone between his jaw and his shoulder and wrapped the phone cord around his arm as he scrambled around his apartment trying to clean up.

"Oh yeah," Naruto said. "Just come right up. Then we'll talk about this."

He heard the click of the phone hanging up on the other end and slammed his phone back down onto its rest. He balanced the giant pile of dirty clothes and torn magazines in his hands and shoved the pile into his hall closet. He heard Sakura's footsteps climbing up the stairs to his place, and managed to get the pull out sofa bed ready when he heard her ring his doorbell.

H e opened his door quietly and let her slip inside. Her normally cheerful face looked crestfallen as she made her way to the sofa and arranged the pillows to better support her back as she shifted under the threadbare sheets.

Naruto ran over to his kitchen and picked up his old water kettle.

"I don't really have much to offer you right now," he said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "How 'bout some tea?"

Sakura bit her lip to keep from crying and nodded. Naruto ran back to his kitchen and lifted the lid on his kettle and filled it up with sink faucet water. He placed the kettle down on the counter next to his stove and dug around in one of his kitchen cabinets for a pack of matches. He lit one, lit the stove fuse from under the metal coiling of his stove hotplate, blew the match out and shook it in the air to dissipate the smoke, then threw it out and placed the kettle on top of the flame.

Naruto walked back to his living room and turned his armchair to the right to better face Sakura laying there on his sofa bed.

"You're handling this better than I thought you would," Sakura said.

"I've grown up a little in the last few months," Naruto smiled. "So what's this all about?"

Sakura sighed and moved her right hand to touch her six-month pregnant belly.

"Six months ago when he came on to me at that bar, I thought I was just lucky," she mumbled.

"He was drunk…"

"Of course he was!" She replied hysterically. "It didn't matter much at the time. I made a bad decision and slept with him and got myself all knocked up. I know he meant well when he proposed to me for the baby's sake, but we both knew that night was a one-time thing and this marriage wasn't going to work out. We fight all the time, and earlier tonight…"

"He didn't hit you, did he?" Naruto asked.

Sakura shook her head.

"No, but he screamed at me more than usual, and I just-" she sobbed. "I can't do this anymore. I can't bring my baby up in a home like that. I regret it. I really, really regret it. I know he'll never admit it, but I think he does, too."

The kettle started to whistle loudly, and Naruto got up to take the kettle off the flame. He blew the flame out and took out two mugs. He placed his last two tea bags into them and carefully poured hot water over them both and let them steep for a few minutes.

"You'll have to take your tea plain," Naruto said. "My milk is no good and I have no sugar."

Sakura chuckled through her tears.

"Still idealizing the life of an impoverished writer?" she teased. "Or do you hate it yet?"

"Actually, I love it," Naruto grinned. "This whole 'no money' thing is something most wanna-be writers dream about." He joked.

"Money wouldn't be an issue for me if I could just think of something to write," he said, handing Sakura her mug and sitting back down across from her once more.

"Naruto, why can't you just write what Jiraiya wrote? All your friends are sick of seeing you live like this."

"It's not so bad," he shrugged. "I get by. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it _you_ who called _me_ asking for help and not the other way around? What's that all about?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'm going to the law offices to file for an annulment. I need a witness, so…"

"You're asking me?" Naruto said flatly.

Sakura nodded.

"Don't look so disappointed in me," she said. "It's what's best for me and the baby, and you know it."

Naruto sighed and moved over to Sakura side and placed his own hand on top of her belly. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right.

"It'll be like the last six months didn't exist," she said.

"Except for this," he motioned down to her belly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "This was a virginal conception, thank you very much," she joked.

Naruto grinned and took her empty mug from her, placed it in the sink, and wished her good night before heading down the hall to his bedroom. He leaned against his doorframe and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

_Sasuke, you fucking moron,_ he thought. _What the hell did you do to yourself this time?_

. . .

Sakura yanked the covers off of him despite his protests the next morning.

"It's a happy occasion," she said sarcastically. "I'm getting un-married today, so get your butt out of bed."

Naruto yawned and rubbed his eyes as he sat up on the side of his bed. As soon as Sakura exited the room, he put on a fresh clean t-shirt and pulled a pair of faded jeans over his boxers. When he walked into the living room to put on his shoes before leaving, he felt Sakura pinch his t-shirt sleeve.

"You're wearing THAT to the law offices?" she asked.

"Sorry," Naruto said. "I'll just go throw on my tuxedo, because I can totally afford one, and not just these second-hand cast-offs from the Goodwill."

"You're grumpy."

"You woke me up at seven this morning even though we both didn't get to sleep until three last night," Naruto replied. "How can you be so chipper?"

"I'm a morning person," she grinned.

Naruto looked down at his outfit.

"I don't even think this is second-hand," he said as they walked out the door and onto the street. "Third-hand, maybe. Or maybe a hobo died in it. That's why it was so cheap-"

"Quit being gross," Sakura snapped as she opened the doors to the law offices.

The room was full of people. People crying, people arguing, and people glaring at each other from across the room. Sakura took a seat in the little plastic chairs lined up against the wall and patted the one next to her, beckoning Naruto to sit down next to her.

"I don't like it here," she whispered into his ear as he took his place next to her. "They're all staring at me."

Naruto turned his head and saw she was right. They all still mumbled to themselves, but their eyes were glued to Sakura and her baby belly. Like they were any better than she was. These couples were all here to apply for annulments. Naruto had half a mind to go strangle the group of gossipy couples, but decided against it. He'd get arrested. Prison was bad. Actually, prison was probably better than the way Naruto was living now. Food was probably better too. _No, no,_ Naruto told himself. _Prison is bad… prison is bad…_

"Haruno Sakura," the bored receptionist called out. She stood up nervously to follow the short, plump woman into the offices behind the lobby. Naruto patted her shoulder in support. He'd be here for her as her witness. She didn't need to be so nervous.

The law official opened the manila folder on his desk and read down the papers inside.

"Haruno Sakura," he mused. "Married Uchiha Sasuke on March 1st of this year?"

"Yes," she said softly.

"Well, you certainly qualify for an annulment," he said. "But considering the circumstances," he motioned to her belly.

"It's better this way," she replied shortly.

"Very well," he turned the paper in the folder around so both Sakura and Naruto could see it. "You sign here on the top line, your husband signs on the line under it, and then the witness signs on the bottom line. As soon as this is done, please return the document to the receptionist in the lobby."

Sakura nodded, then got up and walked out of the lobby as quickly as possible to avoid the stares from the hypocrites still sitting there.

"I'll just get him to sign it tomorrow," she mumbled.

"Why not now?" Naruto asked as he trailed behind her.

"Naruto, today is Sasuke's birthday!" she exclaimed. "I can't make him sign the annulment paper on his birthday!"

"The longer you stay with him, even if only a day, the more miserable you'll be," Naruto said, taking the folder out of Sakura's hands. "I'll make him sign it. Where is he?"

"He's either still at home, or down at the bar," she said, staring down at the ground sadly. "He never goes anywhere else these days."

Naruto kicked at the pebbles on the street as he walked to Sakura's apartment. It didn't really matter that the marriage was being annulled. It didn't matter how much Sakura wanted to pretend the last few months never happened. They did, and now they all had to deal with it.

Of course, Naruto had been devastated on that day when Sakura came over to his apartment and told him that she was pregnant with Sasuke's baby and that she was going to marry him. He'd sat there silently in his living room with his back to Sakura standing in the doorway, no emotion betraying his heartbreak. He'd been in love with her since high school, but never had the balls to tell her, and Sasuke was his best friend. Or at least he had been his best friend. Sasuke tried to break those ties a couple years ago when he, like the rest of his family, enlisted in the army and left to go train at the base. Naruto had heard rumors that Sasuke had come back permanently a few months ago, around the same time all of this mess started, but Naruto had no idea why.

Naruto pushed Sakura's front door open slowly and heard a soft coughing coming from inside the apartment. Sasuke, slumped at the kitchen table with an open flask in his right hand, stared out the window from between the blinds. It was dark but for that small light from the window, and the air smelled like stale alcohol. It was the kind of permeating smell that came from months of use. How long had Sakura put up with Sasuke's drinking habit?

"Sasuke," Naruto whispered, poking him in the shoulder blade gently to let him know he was there.

Sasuke grunted and let his head fall down, staring at the table.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto said carefully. "I heard it was your birthday."

"It's just a day," he mumbled, staring at the flask in his hand.

"Yeah…" Naruto said quietly as he took a seat across from Sasuke in front of the window.

"I think you know why I'm here," Naruto said seriously.

"Sakura?" Sasuke replied quietly.

Naruto nodded.

"She wants you to sign this," Naruto said, pushing the annulment paper over to Sasuke.

"An-Annul…" He slurred. He looked back up at Naruto, his eyes filled with confusion. "What the fuck is this?"

"Sakura wants an annulment," he explained. "She can't take your drinking and your fighting anymore. Believe me, Sasuke, this is best for her."

Sasuke hiccupped and looked blankly at the paper.

"She has my baby…" he mumbled.

"It doesn't matter," Naruto interrupted. "Sasuke, you aren't fit right now to take care of anyone, let alone a baby! I don't know what happened to you since you came home, but it needs to stop!"

Naruto watched as Sasuke angrily dropped his flask, picked up a pen, and scrawled his name on the second line.

"You can tell that pink-haired bitch to go to hell," he slurred.

Naruto collected the paper into the folder, stood up, and walked out of Sakura's apartment and slammed the door behind him.

What the hell was his problem?

. . .

With the annulment filed away and Sasuke holed up in Sakura's apartment, Sakura had no place to go, so Naruto offered her a place in his living room for as long as she needed. It felt nice to have some companionship, and Sakura's job brought in some much needed money. Naruto couldn't remember the last time he actually ate until he was full.

By the time sakura had changed her mailing address to Naruto's, it wasn't long until one particular piece of mail came for her.

"Let me get this straight," Naruto said, taking the letter from Sakura's hand and reading it on his own. "You bought your apartment, put Sasuke's name on it, and now you have no legal rights to it?"

"I was stupid and hopeful," Sakura said. "Of course, this means I've been kicked out of my own house."

"Well, now you live on my sofa," Naruto said. "So it isn't a big deal."

"Naruto, I can't live in your living room forever," Sakura said. "I need my own place for when the baby comes."

"It can live here too!" Naruto said cheerfully. "It can live with you right in my own living room, and it won't even bother me when it screams in the middle of the night because I'm always up late anyway!"

"Naruto, you're supposed to be writing during that time, not taking care of my kid," Sakura said.

"I can't write!" Naruto yelled. "I can't write a love story to save my life! Over this whole thing the last few months, I'm not even sure I believe in it anymore."

"Naruto," Sakura said sympathetically. "I'm still upset by what happened too, but I've gotten over it, mostly. There's no rewind button that can fix this. I've accepted that."

"Maybe you have, but not me," Naruto said quietly.

"You know when this all first was happening to me; I talked to someone about it. Maybe you want to talk to me about it too?"

Naruto shook his head.

"I've heard everything about your side already. Maybe what I need is to go talk to Sasuke."

Sakura sighed, stood up, and ran her hand through her hair.

"Good luck," she said sarcastically.

It was too late. Naruto had already run out the door, patched up jacket in hand.

. . .

"Who is it?" Sasuke's rough voice yelled through the closed and locked door after Naruto knocked.

"It's Naruto," he replied. "Let me in."

Naruto heard Sasuke's shuffling footsteps and muttering as the locks and chains on the door came undone and the door creaked open. Sasuke squinted out the door and just looked at Naruto.

"Huh, it really is you," he said gruffly as he moved to the side to let Naruto enter.

Sasuke had clearly stopped being a neat freak. The apartment was messy and littered with old empty beer and vodka bottles. Naruto picked one up and scratched at the worn label.

"I thought I told you that you needed to get better?" Naruto said, holding up the bottle.

"Shut up, Uzumaki," Sasuke said. "You don't know anything."

"How about you tell me so that I do understand then, huh?"

Sasuke's head dropped as he took the empty bottle from Naruto and he laughed darkly.

"You want to know?" he asked. "Fine. Do you know why I was discharged from the army?"

"N-no," Naruto stuttered. "No one does. You never told anyone."

Sasuke smirked psychotically as he walked closer to Naruto and shoved him down onto the sofa covered in a lumpy navy blue blanket. Naruto heard the crunch of broken glass as he landed on the bottles hidden underneath it.

"My brother and I were sent with our squadrons to go take part in a major battle, near the front lines," Sasuke said. "I endured three days of constant gunfire and shell explosions. I was holed up with some other soldiers in a hole in the ground night and day."

"Evening of the fourth day, I look up from my hole just in time to watch my brother get blown up to bits by a misaimed grenade. Do you know what the army ruled Itachi's death as?" Sasuke asked.

"N-no…"

"A casualty resulting from friendly fire," Sasuke said. "My lieutenant colonel sent me to the infirmary. He said I'd gone 'insane', "

Sasuke paused to cough before continuing on with his rant.

"Turns out I have some kind of depression," Sasuke explained, walking over to the fridge and opening a new bottle.

"They wouldn't let me back in the army. They said I'd seen enough war and devastation. So I was discharged. Now I have no job, no dream, and no family, either."

Sasuke sat down at the kitchen table and put his head in his hands.

"I know I need to stop, ok?" he said. "But I can't…"

Naruto walked over to the kitchen table slowly and sat down next to Sasuke. He let Sasuke rest his head on his shoulder for a while.

"I can help you, Sasuke," Naruto whispered as he took Sasuke's face into his hands and rubbed his cheek gently with his thumb. "I can find someone who'll help you."

"Yeah," Sasuke hiccupped. "You do that. Ok."

Naruto cradled Sasuke's passed out body for a minute while debating what to do. After a while, Naruto figured there was nothing he could do but put him down carefully on the table and cover him with a blanket.

Naruto left the apartment quickly. As soon as he got home, he called up an old friend of his, an Alcoholics Anonymous counselor by the name of Hinata Hyuuga.

. . .

In the end, Sakura hadn't found a new place by the time her baby was born. Naruto had spent all of the weekend before the birth helping Sakura set up a crib next to his desk for it. Sakura had also insisted that Naruto be present for the birth; an experience that left him deeply scarred and with a fear of being a parent.

It was a girl. A pretty little black haired girl with mint green eyes who was quiet but fussy if she didn't get what she wanted right away.

"What are you going to name her?" Naruto asked as he looked down at the sleeping baby in Sakura's arms.

"Noa," she smiled. "Haruno Noa. Sounds nice, huh?"

"Yeah," Naruto said cheerfully. "When are you going to invite Sasuke over to see her?"

"Never!" she spat. "I don't want him coming anywhere near her!"

"But Sakura," Naruto protested. "Hinata said he was doing a lot better now-"

"Look Naruto, the few months I was with him was complete and utter hell. I put up with it as long as I could, but I just can't do it anymore. The nightmare is over," she sobbed. "I'm glad that Sasuke is making progress, but I'm not ready to let him see the baby. I'm not sure I ever will be. It hurt, watching him act that way, Naruto. It hurt in a way I'm not sure you understand."

Naruto sighed and gave up.

"At least let me take a picture of her for him," he said.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"No," she said.

"Look Sakura. This isn't just about you anymore. You say you're happy he's making progress but you refuse to support it. I know you're hurt and I know you went through hell with him, but Sasuke is just as much a friend to me as you are, and like it or not, Noa is his daughter too, and he has a right to at least have a picture of her. Maybe it'll give him something to keep sober for."

Sakura looked down at her baby as she woke up and handed her to Naruto to put in the little hospital crib.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Take the picture, and make sure she's smiling."

"You don't need to be sorry," Naruto said as he waved a little stuffed toy at the baby. "I understand. The last time you say him he wasn't in his right mind. You have every right to still be scared. Just wait until you see how much better he's doing now, though," Naruto smiled. "He's like a whole new person. Almost the way he was back in high school."

"Say 'cheese'!" Naruto said happily to Noa as she smiled for the picture.

"Naruto," Sakura said. "Babies can't talk."

. . .

Naruto watched as Sasuke ran his fingers over the photograph of his daughter.

"She's real?"

"Yup!" Naruto grinned. "She's just like you, only cuter."

"I can't go to see her," Sasuke said.

"Sakura is still afraid of you," Naruto explained.

"I don't blame her," Sasuke said. He looked down at the picture again and smiled.

Naruto sat silently and watched Sasuke frame the photo and place it over his kitchen table. Naruto could see why Sakura was so willing to be hopeful about her future with Sasuke. He looked so healthy and happy when he smiled. It was beautiful.

Naruto felt his cheeks get hot and he pushed the thought aside.

"What's your face so pink for?" Sasuke asked as he returned to his seat next to Naruto.

"Nothing," Naruto stammered. "Look, I gotta go."

"Don't let me stop you," Sasuke replied absentmindedly.

Naruto walked quickly out the door, tripped over the doorframe, dusted himself off, and continued running home.

"Idiot," Sasuke scoffed.

. . .

It was two in the morning again, and Naruto still hadn't written anything onto the notepad in front of him. He groaned and let his chin rest on the paper and he took a side glance at Noa in the crib next to him. She'd woken up fifteen minutes ago from hunger, and was now happily sucking on a bottle. She had woken Naruto up from dozing off. It was handy having a baby around. She was like his own living alarm clock. Noa looked back at Naruto as she lay in her crib, her feet kicking around from under her blanket.

"What would you write if you were me?" Naruto asked the little girl.

"I mean, you're a baby, so you probably have all kinds of strange yet interesting ideas up in that little brain of yours," he said to her. "Too bad you can't talk and tell me what they are."

"It's not that I'm bad at writing a love story," Naruto said. "I could write any number of stories. I just can't make them feel real."

"You know, if you were able to talk but chose not to I'd swear you were just like your dad. He doesn't say much and looks at me like I'm stupid, too. Just like you're doing right now."

The resemblance was so strong it was almost scary. The only thing Noa had gotten from her mother was her eyes. Her soft, dark baby hair even did that same weird duck-butt thing behind her head. Naruto strongly hoped she'd grow out of it when she was older.

Naruto watched as Noa sucked on her bottle for a few minutes, then flung it aside and began to tug at her sky blue knit blanket. Naruto picked up her bottle and put it on his desk so the formula still inside wouldn't leak onto her in the night.

"You're supposed to finish this, you know," he told her. "Before your mom moved in with me, I didn't get to eat much. Besides, you need that formula to keep up your weight like the pediatrician said."

Noa didn't even look at the blond.

"Because the doctor said that you were underweight," Naruto continued. "Not that anyone could tell. You are adorably chubby."

"Anyway, back to my problems," Naruto said. "I can't make it feel real. The closest thing I felt to attraction since your mom got married and had it annulled was when I was talking with your dad this afternoon and…"

No. No, Naruto was not attracted to Sasuke. He was just helping him. He was doing what friendly friends do to friends who need help. He looked back down at Noa. She turned her big green eyes up back to him and reached a tiny hand up for her bottle back.

"I do not like your dad that way, Noa," he told her as she excitedly placed her bottle back in her mouth.

"Don't look at me that way, it's true," he said.

He looked back down at his empty notepad and sighed heavily.

"Maybe I'll go see your dad tomorrow, to check up on him," Naruto muttered. "Hinata mentioned that he was almost done with the program, and that's the only reason I'm going to see him," he told her.

_For fuck's sake,_ he told himself. _Who are you trying to convince, the baby or yourself?_

"I've had enough for one night," he said to Noa as he tucked her in. "Goodnight, you little booger."

Noa stared up at the ceiling and yawned.

. . .

"Hinata said you'll be done with the program soon," Naruto mentioned to Sasuke as they walked along the gravel covered path in the park.

"Hn,"

"Don't sound so excited, you bastard," Naruto said sarcastically.

"I'm a very proud man, Naruto," Sasuke told him. "So you'll hear this from me only once: Thanks for helping me."

"Wait, just let me-" Naruto's hand rummaged around in his pocket for his tape recorder and pulled it out and pressed record. "Ok, you can say it now."

"I told you I'd say it only once."

"Fuck," he muttered.

Sasuke reached around for Naruto's hand and pulled his hand and tape recorder up to his mouth.

"Thank you, Naruto," he said into the device.

Naruto's face blushed pink once more as he wrenched his hand away from Sasuke's mouth. _Not again…_

Sasuke looked at Naruto as he tried to get the color to fade from his cheeks. Naruto took a side glance at him and turned his face away, embarrassed.

"I find it funny how you always blush when you're near me," Sasuke smirked.

"Sh-shut it," he mumbled.

"Anyway," Naruto said once he was certain he'd gotten his cool back. "Sakura's taking Noa up to visit her mother this weekend. Since I have the apartment to myself, I was wondering if maybe you'd like to come up later tonight to celebrate your passing the program."

"She's taking Noa with her…"

Naruto sighed and patted Sasuke's shoulder.

"Sakura is still iffy about letting you see the baby," Naruto explained. "I did get her to promise to let you see her once you officially complete the program, so long as both she and I are in the room with you."

"I still have only that one picture you gave me," Sasuke said.

"Oh, don't worry about that," Naruto said cheerfully. "I have a whole photo album made up for you."

Sasuke blinked and ran a hand through his hair.

"I suppose it wouldn't kill me to come see you tonight," he said.

"Great! We can watch movies, and eat ramen, and drink soda all night!" Naruto said excitedly.

"It's a date," Sasuke said.

Naruto's face blushed again. _Damn him. He knows, doesn't he?_

. . .

Naruto pressed the STOP button on the DVD player after the end of the third movie that night. Naruto tried to sneak off of the sofa without waking Sasuke, who'd "accidentally" fallen asleep on his shoulder. Just because tonight he had company was no excuse to not spend another night pretending to write.

He sat at his desk, notepad open to the still blank first page, and rubbed his temples. Another night was going to be wasted trying to combat writers block again, just as all the previous nights before this one. Naruto squeezed his pencil in his hand and relaxed it every few seconds, trying to think.

After a few minutes, Naruto accidentally squeezed his pencil too hard, and it slipped out of his hand and rolled across the floor and bumped into the sofa in the living room. Naruto cursed under his breath and got up slowly, trying not to make any creaks as he walked back to the living room for his pencil. Sasuke was still sleeping quietly on the sofa, breathing in and out silently, as if he wasn't even breathing at all. Naruto wasn't surprised; he'd never pegged Sasuke as a snorer.

Naruto sat back down at his desk and tapped the tip of his pencil against the paper rapidly, making several small dots on the paper. Naruto groaned quietly and erased them off, then blew the shavings off of his notepad.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto jolted up and turned behind him, only to find Sasuke staring down at him.

"What the-! I didn't hear you get up!" Naruto said.

"Your pencil woke me up," he told him. "Now, what are you doing?"

Naruto looked down at his blank notepad and flipped through a few pages with his thumb.

"Back when Jiraiya was still alive, I promised him that if anything ever happened to him, I'd finish his stupid book series. So then the old Perv dies and I'm stuck being a writer," Naruto explained.

"I can see that you're very successful in your field," Sasuke gestured to Naruto's empty notepad.

"The Icha Icha series is supposed to be a love series, and I just can't find anything to write about," Naruto explained.

Sasuke stood next to Naruto, looking down at the desk in front of the blond with his arms crossed across his chest. He yawned and turned to face Naruto before crouching down to his level.

Sasuke's mouth found its way onto Naruto's in less than a second. Naruto's eyes snapped open in shock, and then closed again. Part of his brain was questioning the situation, but it abruptly stopped once Naruto felt Sasuke's tongue poke against his lips. Naruto opened them and deepened the kiss. His hands snaked their way around Sasuke's neck and through his soft hair. His body was comfortably warm from having slept up against the sofa all night, pressed against Naruto's own. Naruto's heart pounded faster as he moaned into the kiss and pressed himself up closer to Sasuke's body. Sasuke smirked into the kiss, pulling away and leaving Naruto's lips wet and trembling for more. Naruto pressed his face into the crook of Sasuke's neck and sat there, feeling thoroughly distracted and satisfied.

"Why'd you do that?" He mumbled into Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke pulled the blond closer and hugged him into his chest. His arm hugged his head and his hand ran through his blond hair soothingly. Sasuke leaned his head into Naruto's hair and whispered into his ear.

"I'm giving you something to write about."

Naruto and Sasuke made their way back to the sofa, falling asleep with their arms tangled around each other.

. . .

Sasuke had gone back to his apartment ages ago, leaving Naruto to spend the next few hours scribbling out his own love story onto the notepad as quickly as it could while the feeling was still fresh in his head. With each word, Naruto felt all the feeling he'd felt over the past few months disappear and lighten the burden of negative feelings he'd been carrying since Sasuke had returned from the War. Once it was finished, he ripped the pages out of his notepad, shoved them in an envelope, and sent it all to his publisher.

. . .

Sasuke sat on Naruto's sofa, his fingers tapping against his thigh.

"Are you nervous?" Naruto asked him.

"Uchihas do not get nervous, you idiot," Sasuke said.

Naruto saw his hand shake slightly. He took it in his own and rubbed circles into the soft skin with his thumb, calming him. Sasuke and Naruto looked at each other. _Everything is ok,_ the look said.

Sakura stood in the doorway, holding the little bundle close to her, seeming almost afraid to hand it over.

"Sakura," Naruto said slowly. "You promised."

Sakura nodded and slowly made her way over to Naruto and Sasuke seated on the sofa. Sasuke held his arms out while Sakura carefully placed Noa into them.

"Hold her head up," she whispered.

Sasuke stared at the tiny little girl in his arms as if she weren't real. Noa looked up to the strange man holding her for the very first time. She blinked, her eyes searching around the room until she found Naruto. Naruto smiled at her. She directed her gaze back up to her own father and smiled.

"She's smiling at me," Sasuke whispered.

"That's good!' Naruto encouraged. "She loves her daddy."

Sasuke turned his head over to face Naruto.

"I know someone else who does, too," he said suggestively.

Naruto blushed and looked back at the happy baby. He watched as Sasuke's eyes widened when Noa's hand curled tightly around Sasuke's finger and refused to let go. She stared at her hand holding onto Sasuke's finger for a minute, then placed it to her small mouth and poked her tongue out to lick it.

Sasuke smirked before handing Noa back to Sakura for feeding.

Sasuke's hand found Naruto's and clutched it tightly.

"Thank you," he whispered into Naruto's ear.

. . .

"You're shitting me," Naruto said into the phone a couple weeks after he'd sent his story off to the publishers.

"Don't swear in front of Noa!" Sakura yelled from the kitchen.

"You're publishing it. You're really going to publish it?" Naruto exclaimed.

Naruto's smile got bigger and bigger as the seconds passed. He rushed out the door and headed over to Sasuke's apartment.

"Sasuke!" he yelled as he burst in through the door. "They're going to publish it! They're going to publish my book!"

"Congratulations on being able to do your job correctly," Sasuke said.

"Normally, I'd be pissed at you for talking to me that way," Naruto gushed. "But I'm going to be a published author! I didn't let Jiraiya down!"

Sasuke smiled and walked over to the excited blond. He reached around his neck and kissed him softly, chastely.

"Congratulations," he said.

Naruto didn't leave. He spent the night with Sasuke, "researching" for the next book.

. . .

Naruto woke up tangled in Sasuke's sheets, the raven's arms circled possessively around his hips. He took a look at the alarm clock on the bedside table.

Two in the morning.

"What are you looking at?" Sasuke asked, his voice still groggy from sleeping.

"Do you know how long it's been that I haven't been up at two in the morning writing?" Naruto asked.

"If I said I didn't want to know, I'd get a feeling you'd tell me anyway," Sasuke yawned.

"It's been months," Naruto told him before snuggling up against Sasuke's body and falling back asleep.

. . .

Sakura sat in Naruto's living room floor, playing peek-a-boo with Noa when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hey Sakura! Guess what? You don't have to keep looking for a place to live anymore!" Naruto's voice on the phone told her.

"You found me a place?" she asked.

"No, I'm giving you my place," Sakura could almost _hear_ the grin in Naruto's voice.

"WHAT?" she yelled into the phone's receiver. "You can't do that!"

"I can and I did," Naruto told her. "The lease is in your name. I'm moving into your old place with Sasuke."

"So what you're telling me is that we swapped homes?"

"Pretty much."

Sakura smiled to herself and hung up the phone. Life was funny that way.

. . .

"How'd she take it?" Sasuke asked once Naruto was off the phone.

"Surprisingly well," Naruto replied. "I don't think she has the energy to argue anymore, what with taking care of Noa and all."

"I want to go see her again tomorrow," Sasuke told him.

Naruto smiled.

"As you wish,"

"Don't quote The Princess Bride, moron," Sasuke said, drawing him in closer.

. . .

Naruto stood out on the balcony of his new shared place with Sasuke. If someone had told him months ago that he'd end up this way, he wouldn't have believed it. Sasuke didn't drink anymore, and although his dreams of being an Army Officer were shot, he'd moved on. Sakura and Noa welcomed Naruto and Sasuke into their family. Sakura continually told Noa that she was so lucky to have three parents who loved her, and she eventually learned to trust Sasuke. Naruto, who for the longest time was afraid that his writer's block was shaming Jiraiya's memory, had finally become a published author.

Naruto chuckled to himself. Life did seem to turn out ok, once he just remembered to slow down and just breathe.


End file.
